As French director Gaspar Noé’s pulsing, EDM-fueled “Climax” races by at 120 beats per minute, on-screen titles periodically interrupt the action with such sophomoric musings as “Existence is a fleeting illusion” and “A French film, and proud of it.” He might just as well have included this thought from his countryman Jean-Paul Sartre: “Hell is other people.”

The former enfant terrible was last heard from with 2015’s disastrous “Love ,” a 3-D film whose notorious gimmick was having its actors engage in real sex. At this point, trying to appreciate the 55-year-old director comes with a few caveats. In “Climax,” even a child is not spared a cruel fate.

And yet, Noé has made what might be his most accessible and, yes, tender film to date, teasing the idea of heavenly bliss — before heading straight to hell.

Set in 1996 and said to be based on a true story, the film centers on the members of a multicultural, sexually diverse dance troupe who are introduced through videotaped interviews in which they lay out their aspirations — as well as several emotional fault lines that threaten to rupture. With the exception of lead actress Sofia Boutella (“Star Trek Beyond”), all the performers are first-time actors, with backgrounds in movement, not movies. One is a Congolese contortionist.

Noé presents these interviews on a TV screen, set next to shelves filled with books and movies whose titles hint at his inspirations, including the 1981 psychological horror film “Possession.” Filmed in an old school building that doubles as a practice space and dormitory, the action of “Climax” gets underway with the rehearsal of a dance characterized by extravagant gyrations drawn from krumping and other street dancing styles. The camera deftly tracks this sequence from ground level before moving through and above the performers in overhead crane shots that evoke the eye of God.

Sofia Boutella, right, and Romain Guillermic play members of a dance troupe in “Climax.” (Couramiaud - Laurent Lufroy and Fabien Sarfati)

It is during a post-rehearsal cast party, an alcohol-soaked — yet joyous and initially life-filled — rager that the real action begins. As the characters down cup after cup of sangria, some begin to feel ill, and it is suggested that someone has spiked the punch with LSD. Soon enough, nearly all the dancers are debasing themselves with stomach-churning assault, self-mutilation and, in one case, incest.

To film these goings-on — most of which were improvised over a 15-day shoot — Noé flips the camera upside down at times, returning to his preferred dark-red hues and obscuring some of the hellish depravity with flickering lights. Another fitting title pops up: “Life is a collective impossibility.”

With his 2009 film “Enter the Void,” Noé offered up a guided tour of the afterlife, inspired by the Tibetan Book of the Dead and seen from the perspective of a ghost. “Climax” keeps things more earthbound, suggesting that our damnation is derived from the judgments of one another.

But he also teases, more hopefully: Could the prospect of salvation look, if only for a moment, like an exhilarating dance party, soundtracked by Daft Punk?

R. At Landmark’s E Street Cinema and the Angelika Film Center Mosaic. Contains disturbing material involving a combination of drug use, violent behavior, strong sexuality, coarse language and some graphic nudity. In French and some English with subtitles. 96 minutes.

Hau ChuHau Chu is an editorial aide working with the pop culture, Weekend and Sunday Arts & Style teams. He has written for KidsPost and previously worked at the New York Daily News. Follow